Bengal government admits Manik Bhattacharya's appointment as law college principal 'flawed''

Kolkata: The West Bengal government on Friday submitted an affidavit in the Calcutta High Court, admitting that the appointment of Trinamool Congress legislator and former West Bengal Board of Primary Education (WBBPE) President Manik Bhattacharya as the principal of the Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri Law College here had flouted all norms.

On December 11, the University Grants Commission (UGC), too made the same observations at the Calcutta High Court in the matter and in the affidavit filed on Friday, the state government accepted the commission’s observations in the matter.

However, these two revelations, first by UGC and then by the state government, has posed more embarrassments for the previous Left Front regime rather than the current Trinamool Congress rule, since Bhattacharya’s appointment as the law college principal was done in 1998, when the former was in power.

The observations of both the UGC and the state government on why the appointment was made flouting the norms are identical.

Both have observed that Bhattacharya did not fulfil any of the criteria required for being a principal of any college.

The first criteria is securing minimum 66 per cent marks in post-graduation level along with Ph.D or equivalent qualification. At the same time, a person will be considered as eligible for appointment as a college principal if he has at least 15 years of teaching experience with any college or university or equivalent higher education institute, and Bhattacharya did not fulfill this criteria too.